1980 Olympics javelin throw final

[@mahtivaari72]

It has been told that Soviet officials opened the stadium gates when the Soviets threw javelin in order to have better air flow from behind.

As a former Oly weightlifter my biggest respect for all this outstanding athletes...

[@ukbubbsbear]

Great to look back and see the old-style javelin soar on the air like that. Makarov had a great technique, as did many of the Eastern Europeans - and he looks like his son Sergey.

[@Georg1979]

I love to see these old footages. I was 1 year old at the time. Thank you!

[@NemethJavelins]

@9848Joshman Yes, the red-white javelin is the Apollo 'Olympic'. The yellow one with the red grip Hanisch and I used was a Sandvik Champion 'N'. You can also see a gold-white javelin there, which is another Apollo.

[@NemethJavelins]

@stanante "The best Soviet thrower was the Latvian Dainis Kūla but in the final he opened with two fouls. On his third throw he got off a big toss, but it quite obviously landed flat and was a foul. However, the official waved the white flag and they measured it - at 88.88m - he was now in the lead. Writing in _Track & Field News_ Jim Dunaway noted, "'Incompetent officiating' is the kind of explanation one can make. 'Cheating' is the word many people used. Judge for yourself."

[@sidecar771]

I was at this event. The Canadian threw 87 meters in the warm up but nothing near as far in competition. It was agonizing to watch.

[@BaumerPaulGefreiter]

The Canadian? I thought Canada boycotted the 1980 Moscow olympics.

[@shotparrot]

Probably thinking of David Otley, who was from GBR but competing under the Olympic flag.

[@NemethJavelins]

@dysjav Unfortunately I don't have all the throwers' attempts. Stefan Stoykov threw 79 meters and I don't have his footage. However, I do have a compilation of the women's competition which I will post soon.

[@Gorski213]

It was because of the officiating at this competition, and how hard judging if the javelin landed point first or not, that the javelin design was changed to the current design in 1986. It had nothing to do with how far throws were going, it was to make judging the landing spot easier to spot.

[@etelekiss6331]

Ezt a Detlef Michel-t verte meg Budapesten pár évvel korábban az IBV versenyen Lukács László 18 évesen kerek 77 méteres dobásával és lett első.

[@dysjav]

nice video, but can you put the video of "stoikov" which is written on the list of throwers at this video. do you have all thrower's attempts?

[@stagna1959]

Officials favoured Soviet arthlets so clearly, it was embarrassing. Not only dubious Kulas 3rd attempt`, but they also opened huge stadium gates when Soviet threw . Opening gates in Moscow Stadium created wind tunnel, which added lenght to javelin throw.. Even worse cheating was in triple jump, where officials cancelled several Oliveira`s and Cambpell`s long attempts as fouls. Estonian Uudmäe won, but it was win with bitter taste - it was not a fair competition.

[@YPO6]

Cheating and lying is just normal socialist mindset.

[@Kungs.]

What was dubious about it? He threw the furthest. Kūla was the best end of story. Lūsis was cheated out of a Gold medal in Munich in 1972.

[@stagna1959]

Kulas 3rd attempt landed completely flat, which was illegal and should have been counted as failed attempt. But referees "miraculously" decided that attempt was legal, "found" non-existed mark on ground, measured it and it secured Kulas participation in last 3 attempts . Without it Kula would have been out of final 3 attempts and out of medal . Cheating like that happened lot in Moscow. Other notorious cheating was in triple jump, where all IAAF judges were removed from the field and only Soviet referees remained . It secured the gold to Uudmäe while Campbell`s and Oliveira`s all longer jumps were considered as illegal .

[@kurtfrancis4621]

@@Kungs. Kula had the farthest throw....but should never have been allowed to take it as Kula's 3rd qualifying throw was clearly FLAT. That SHOULD have been his 3rd foul in the preliminaries, and thus disqualified him from competing in the final 3 rounds. Period.

[@sidecar771]

Worth a medal had it been in the final...sigh..

[@sidecar771]

of course

[@201081hero]

Have you got the right Olympics? Canada boycotted the games in 1980...

[@yannisspirakopoulos5687]

If you analyse the video it is obvious that Kulas' forth attempt was about 1 meter less than what was measured. It was 90 plus something.

[@Kungs.]

@Yannis Nonsense.